3 posts tagged “movies”

PS3 owners:  If you love the Netflix service and had a Roku Box on your Amazon wish list so you could stream movies to your TV, you can now remove it.  That's right, Sony has now upgraded the firmware to allow you to stream the movies that Netflix will let you view instantly right on your TV using the PS3.  Not only does it work, it works well.  The interface in clean and movies begin quickly.  Unlike renting/buying movies from the PS3 Store, which take FOREVER to download and cannot be watched with any level of enjoyment while the download is still progressing, the new Netflix feature played a movie for me within 30 seconds and never stuttered even once.  The overall experience is very good. You can browse titles and add them to your Instant Queue without having to fire up your computer, which you would have to do with the Roku.  

No, he's not scared.  That's his "picture" smile.  We're working on it.  :)

If you have been reading this blog, then you know that I purchased a Toshiba HD-DVD player as an early birthday present in November.  I am still disappointed with how the format war ended but I accept the fact that I bet on the wrong horse.  I knew that might happen and made my decision based on the assumption that my purchase was counting as a "vote" for the HD-DVD format.  If more consumers chose Blu-ray, then so be it.  Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth.  With HD-DVD players costing half as much as the cheapest Blu-ray player (before they all went on sale), HD-DVD players were selling quite well and all signs pointed to an HD-DVD victory.  Instead, this war was settled by the greed of movie studio executives and the customer now has to pay the higher cost of the hardware in order to enjoy the SAME hi-definition experience.  It's quite sad, really.

That brings us up to a few days ago, when my parents saw this story on ABC News and called me immediately. Circuit City was allowing those who purchased HD-DVD players (namely Toshiba) to receive an in-store credit or gift card for the purchase price of their unit.  The news was like a choir of angels offering hope where none should have been found.  Despite the fact that my player was purchased just prior to the start of the 90 window mentioned in the story, Circuit City extended the credit to me and gained a HUGE Circuit City fan in the process.  All I needed was to return the player, remote, power cord and user manual. That's it!  No box or UPC necessary.  Thanks, Circuit City!

So, now what?  After some research, I purchased a Sony Playstation 3 (refund + $200) which features the Blu-Ray player capable of playing regular DVD's and upscaling them to 1080p resolution.  The purchase of a remote for the PS3 was necessary, however, since the PS3 uses Bluetooth technology and my Harmony universal remote would not work with it.  At $25, it was a good investment. (Thanks for the advice, freezal.)

So far, I am very happy with the player.  There were a couple of snafus with the setup, however.  I had purchased the Pixar Shorts on DVD but was unable to play it until I upgraded the firmware.  This is easily done over the internet (wi-fi or wired) or via a USB thumbdrive.  Nice touch, Sony!   Once upgraded, the PS3 performed marvelously.

The only other issue I had was in adding the PS3 to my wireless network.  For some reason, when it attempted to connect to my home network, all wireless devices on that network (including our main printer) lost connection.  Pretty weird!  After changing the wi-fi name, channel and security settings, it all worked great!

I am not a "gamer" per se, but I can appreciate the computing power under the hood.  I plan to add the Playstation 3 as a media extender so I can watch videos, listen to music/podcasts and view pictures from the comfort of my couch.  Nice!  Also, I am using the PS3 to help Standford find cures for diseases via the folding@home program.  Oh yeah, and the Sonic game we bought has been a lot of fun for all.